Double-Walled Kitchen Basket Strainer With Permanent Straining Device

ABSTRACT

A double-walled sink strainer that provides additional apertures or larger area for straining debris is described. The doubled-walled sink strainer also allows easy removal of debris, and prevents large debris from entering drain pipes. The double-walled sink strainer also contains a permanently affixed straining device.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application takes priority to Provisional Patent Application61/805,743, filed on Mar. 27, 2013, and is incorporated herein in itsentirety.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Metal kitchen drain lines are subject to accelerated deterioration andclogging because the drain lines are exposed to acids, oils, fats, foodmaterials, and mineral deposits. Larger food materials can cause drainlines to become clogged, and mineral deposits and other reactivematerials can cause drain lines to corrode. Although transitioning frommetal pipes to plastic pipes or ABS pipes has resolved many issuesrelated to corroding and collection of mineral deposits, like metalpipes, ABS pipes still clog due to the passage of food and otherparticles that move through drain lines.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a prior art kitchen sink,drain, and drainage line. Generally, kitchen sinks defines a hole 17which accepts a sink drain attachment. The sink drain attachmentcomprises a strainer 10, sometimes referred to as a basket strainer ordrain body, which has a flange 11 that extends over the edge of the holein the kitchen sink basin 2. The strainer 10 includes a much reduceddiameter threaded portion 12 for connection to a strainer nut 14 orother attachment means to the drainage piping 16. The strainer 10 mayinclude a removable basket or a garbage disposal adapter.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of a typical double basin kitchensink where the strainer 10 is attached to one at least one basin 2 a anddrainage piping 16; the other basin 2 b has a garbage disposal 4connected thereto. It will be appreciated that the components anddrainage connection systems illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 areexemplary.

Typically, the kitchen sink hole 17 is 3.5 inches in diameter. Referringto FIGS. 1, and 3, since the strainer 10 merges into a much reduceddiameter threaded portion 12, the area of the strainer aperture 18 ismuch smaller than the area of the strainer 10.

Because of the relatively small surface area available for debrisretention within the strainer 10 and the requirement for threadedportion 12 to terminate at a 90 degree angle with the strainer 10, it isdifficult to remove certain types of debris from the bottom of thestrainer 10. Some existing strainers 10 may allow larger debris to passthrough to older, corroded, or clogged drain lines. This larger debrismay exacerbate damage to existing drain lines or create damage.

To overcome these problems removable strainers have been employed; suchstrainers or baskets are removably inserted into the top of the drainbody 10, and then removed and emptied as needed. However, theseremovable strainers also present drawbacks.

Removable strainers do not provide a larger strainer aperture 18.Additionally, the user of the kitchen sink will need to remember toinsert the removable strainer before using the sink. Removable strainersare often stored on the side of a sink becoming an eyesore and caneasily be misplaced. Moreover, many removable strainers are made fromlow quality material, such as plastic or rubber, or a very fine meshmaterial which may break down over time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

An object of this invention is to provide a double-walled strainer thatprovides additional apertures or a larger straining area for drainingAnother object is to provide a doubled wall strainer where debris iseasily removable. Another object is to provide a double-walled strainerthat prevents larger particles from entering drain pipes. Another objectis to provide a double-walled strainer with a permanently affixedstraining device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent in the following detailed descriptions of the preferredembodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective, cut-away view of a prior art, kitchen sink,drain, and drainage line

FIG. 2 is a perspective, cut-away view of a prior art, double kitchensink, drain, drainage line, and garbage disposal;

FIG. 3 is a top, perspective view of a prior art sink strainer;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the inventive sinkstrainer;

FIG. 5 is a cut-a-way view of an embodiment of the inventive sinkstrainer;

FIG. 6 is a side view of an embodiment of the inventive sink strainer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Pursuant to the patent laws of the United States, this detaileddescription, discusses various illustrative embodiments of adouble-walled sink strainer 100. These illustrative embodiments areprovided, as required by law, in order to give persons having ordinaryskill in the relevant art a full, clear, and concise description of theinvention defined by the claims, and to enable such a person toappreciate and understand how to make and use, not only the describedillustrative embodiments of the present double-walled strainer 100, butvarious other embodiments that fall within the conceptual scope ofpresent double-walled strainer 100, despite those various otherembodiments not being explicitly described herein.

Neither this detailed description, nor the accompanying drawings, act todefine or otherwise limit the inventive subject matter to which theinventors and/or the inventors' assignee(s) claim exclusive rights; thatis the exclusive role of the claims which follow. Accordingly, thisdescription should not be read to limit the scope of the claimed subjectmatter, nor imply any preference of the described embodiments over anyother embodiment, unless such a limitation or preference is explicitlyidentified herein. For example, although the illustrative embodimentsfocus on a double-walled strainer 100 which is used within a kitchensink, the inventive methods and systems defined by the claims are not solimited.

Referring to FIGS. 4-6, the double-walled sink strainer (“Strainer”) 100is comprised of a flange 102, a body portion 103, and a threaded portion104 for connection to a strainer nut 14, or other attachment means, forattachment to the drainage piping 16. Although the drawings hereindepict a generally hemispherical-shaped body portion 103 to ease thecleaning process, the body portion can be any shape.

The body portion 103 is comprised of an inner wall 103 a and an outerwall 103 b; this configuration is will be referred to hereindouble-walled. The body portion 103 is operably attached to the flange102, and extends downwardly and preferably in a generally hemisphericalshape. Although the inner wall 103 a may be composed of variousmaterials, in a particularly preferred embodiment, the inner wall 103 ais composed of a perforated or expanded mesh stainless steel materialhaving a plurality of spaced apart apertures 110 extending therethrough.The apertures 110 sized to allow passage of liquid and relatively smallparticles, but sufficiently small so as to not permit larger materialsand objects to pass. The outer wall 103 b may also define perforationfor further screening of liquid and debris. Preferably, the inner wall103 a and the outer wall 103 b define a space 115 in-between.

Although the inner wall 103 a and the outer wall 103 b may be attachedto the flange 102 in any known configuration, in one preferredembodiment, each wall 103 a, 103 b has a flange 112, 113 which isoperably connected to the Strainer 100 flange 102. More specifically,the flange 102 may have a far side 102 b and a near side 102 a. Theinner wall 103 a may be operably connected to a near wall flange 112.The near wall flange 112 may be operably connected to the near side 102a of the flange 102. The outer wall 103 b may be operably connected toan outer wall flange 113. The outer wall flange 113 may be operablyconnected to the near side 102 a of the flange 102.

I claim as my invention:
 1. A sink strainer comprising: a flange; a bodyoperably attached to the flange; where the body comprises at least aninner wall and an outer wall.
 2. The sink strainer of claim 1 where theinner wall and outer wall define a space there in-betweens.
 3. The sinkstrainer of claim 2 where: the flange has a near side and a far side;the inner wall in operably attached to an inner wall flange where, theinner wall flange is operably attached to the near side of the flange;the outer wall is operably attached to an outer wall flange where, theouter wall flange is operably attached to the near side of the flange.4. The sink strainer of claim 3 is operably attached to a threadedportion for connection to a drain pipe.
 5. The sink strainer of claim 4contains a permanent straining device.